Intervention
by JupiterComesThunderingIn09
Summary: Set after "The Invasion". Their family was slowly drifting apart. Raph was constantly sitting with Leo and Donnie was locked up in his lab, both barely sleeping. Mikey decides to create an intervention but it doesn't go as planned. An argument breaks out. Will this be enough to tear the broken family apart?


Set post "The Invasion". With the stress of losing their home, their father, and watching their older brother get beaten by the Shredder, the other three brothers are stressed to the max. An argument is bound to happen. Can Mikey help hold this broken family together?

Mikey's POV

It has been three days. Three days since we left New York. Three days since we watched our father, sensei, get flushed down a sewer drain. And Leonardo, our older brother, our leader, is still lying in a tub of water, unconscious, broken, and beaten to a pulp. Raphael has barely slept since we fled to April's farm house in North Hampton. Trying to get him to come out of the bathroom to eat was a chore within itself. He wasn't angry. In fact, I haven't seen him have a temper flare up since he went crazy when the Shredder threw Splinter down that old sewer drain. He was really depressed and sad. His eyes, his bright green eyes have lost their spark; they are only filled with defeat and sadness. I am afraid that if he doesn't come out of that bathroom and get a good night's sleep, we will be down not one but two turtles soon.

Donatello; that was another story. He managed to keep himself cooped up in the barn. April and him managed to create a make shift lab and Donatello has been trying to create a medication for Leonardo made with, get this, mutagen. He said that when its perfected, it will help Leo heal properly and hopefully give him a speedy recovery. D has been working day and night, barely sleeping himself. April brings his meals in to him three times a day. She says he rarely talks to him when she does go in there. I asked her at one point if she thought he was okay. She said that she could tell he felt guilty and like Raph, his eyes were just full of sadness.

And me, well, I try to keep myself busy. I have been helping April and Casey around the farm house with chores: feeding the chickens, chopping firewood, building and feeding the fireplace, preparing meals, and even cleaning (I know shocker right? My room is organized chaos back home). Home! That's if we have a home to go back to. I miss the sewer already. Yeah its nice to be outside in the open with no cars, street lights, pollution, and streets littered with people. But if you ask me, it just doesn't feel right. Something is missing. We weren't whole anymore and I am afraid that my older two brothers are going to shut themselves out the way things are going.

That's why I have decided for an intervention. I know that life has dealt us a shitty situation: our home was, well, in ruins. My older brother may not recover, and our master, we have no idea if he has even survived. But it doesn't mean that my brothers have to stop living. A reality check is in order and if I have to get beaten up by Raphael just to get the guy to sleep in his own bed, well so be it. I'm ready to tango with the big guy.

April and I just finished cleaning up from dinner. Casey was out in the barn working on an old truck that Mr. O'Neill had left abandoned here years ago. D was of course in his "lab" and Raph, he didn't even come down for dinner. As I dried off the last plate and gave it to April to put away, I give her a quick nod signaling that it was time for me to put my plan into action. She agreed with me that we needed to snap my brothers out of the funk that they were in. It was unhealthy and I refuse to watch them shut down.

"Good luck, Mikey" she says with a solemn expression on her face. She even knew that this wasn't going to go well. All I could do was nod as I headed towards the stairs.

When I reached the stair case, I paused a moment and looked at the destination that was right down the hall. This wasn't going to be easy, but if I don't do this my brothers will continue to wallow in self-pity. Time to be the responsible one. I take a deep breath in just before I start to ascend up the stairs and head towards the bathroom. The door was slightly ajar and I carefully open it, trying not to let my older brother know I was there.

I was greeted with the same scene that has been the last three days. Raph was sitting in a chair facing the bath tub, his body slumped over from, what I knew was, exhaustion. I approached the big lug and placed a hand on his shoulder. He didn't even realize I was there until he felt my hand touch his shoulder. He turned his gaze towards mine. His green eyes were now blood shot with the lack of sleep. If he had his mask off, I am sure he would have circles under those tired, sad eyes.

"Raph," I said calmly, "We need to have a family meeting".

"But Leo, what if…" he started to say when he was interrupted.

"Raph, I am right here". April. She must have followed me up here. She stood in the doorway and motioned for Raph and I to leave. "I will keep watch, if he makes one move I will let you know. I think you need to talk to your brother." God, I love this human chick. She is always there for us when we need her without even being told.

"Come on Raph," I say hoisting him up from his chair. I lead him towards the door, his hand in mine as I said, "We need to first collect Donnie". I could tell there was some resistance in my brother's willingness to leave Leo. He kept turning back and looking towards the tub as April took his seat and grabbed Leo's hand into hers. I started to walk faster, in fear that he would break his hold from me and kick April out of his spot.

Raph continued to hold my hand as we made our way over to the barn. Damn, it was so cold outside. It was mid-February and the wind was just howling away; scorching us with the winter air against our bare bodies. Raph finally let go of my hand as I opened the door of the barn. I could feel the warmth immediately hit my cold face as we made our way inside. Donnie sure did a great job with insulating the place. Raph closed the door, the harshness of the cold air disappearing.

"D, we need to talk," I stated as we made our way over to my brainy brother's desk.

Without looking up, he responded, "Not now Mikey, I need to perfect this mutagen". I knew he would resist and that's why I decided that I needed to be persistent and possibly aggressive with my work-a-holic brother. I went over and pulled the chair right out from underneath of him. A loud 'thump' could be heard as he landed on the ground. "Damnit Mikey, I said, oh," he stopped short when he noticed that I had brought Raph with me. "Raph, who's watching Leo?" he quickly asked.

"April is, Donnie," I said as I help lift my brother off the floor, "we seriously need to have a family meeting".

"You have five minutes, I have to get back to work, Leo depends on it," Donnie quickly said.

"No, I will take all the time that I need. I haven't talked to you or Raph these last three days. You both have locked yourself away. You're sleep deprived and both of you are rarely eating."

"Mikey, we can take care of ourselves, we don't need you to be a mother hen" Raph said calmly.

"I know, that's Leo's job…" I started.

"Yeah, well in case you haven't noticed, our leader is sort of out of commission right now, Mikey. Only Leo can boss us around, don't try to take the place of him. You don't sit with him day in and day out. I take care of him. You would have noticed that if you actually cared," Raph shot back. I'm just going to ignore that last part.

"And I am trying to save him, Mikey, there is no time for sleep right now", Donnie added.

"Listen, dudes, and listen good. I do care about Leo and I am praying that he wakes up just as much as you guys do," I tried to say.

"But you haven't helped Mikey, you go parading around the farm feeding and playing with those damn chickens. Obviously, you don't care if Leo gets better or not, its like you have completely forgotten about him," Raph protested.

I was angry now. No, take that back, I was pissed. How dare he claim that I didn't care for our older brother. "Yeah well you know what Raph, I chose to continue to live. What good would I do just sitting up there with him day in and day out? He's hurt Raph and it's going to take him a while to heal. Leo and Splinter would want us to…."

"Don't you say his name," Raph yelled in anger. "Don't you dare say our Father's name" Raph was now in my face, I could feel his hot breath graze across my forehead. "He's dead, Mikey. He's fucking dead or haven't you figured that one out with that small brain of yours?"

"He's alive, I know it. They would want us to continue to live our lives. To take care of ourselves. What good are you to Leo or any of us if you become sick from the lack of sleep and nourishment?" I fired back. "I'm just as upset as you and Donnie are about this whole situation, but I choose not to wallow in my sadness, its just not healthy. You're tired Raph, you need to get some sleep". I could feel my red clad brother start to back down. "And Donnie," I turned towards my purple clad brother. A look of annoyance spread across his face because obviously I interrupted him. "You too, you haven't slept in three days. How are you going to perfect that mutagen if you can't even keep yourself awake. You need to get a good nights sleep, start fresh in the morning".

"It's none of your business, Mikey. It's not like you could help me or any of you for that matter. You're not exactly qualified to work with this mutagen." Donatello snorted back.

"What that means, Mikey is leave us the hell alone. Why can't you understand? Let us deal with this our own way. I know you're stupid, but I thought you would at least be able to take a hint," Raph said. That hurt. I tried to block out what he just said. I know the lack of sleep was doing the talking but it still felt like a punch in the stomach. The family was falling apart. I wish Leo was here. I wish Splinter was here. This shouldn't be happening right now.

"Splinter wouldn't want us to…." And then I felt a fist come in contact with the side of my face and then, I was on the floor. Raphael was standing over me and screaming. My head was pounding and I could barely make out what he was saying. Donnie came over and was trying to restrain my red clad brother.

"I said don't fucking say his name, Mikey. He's gone." Raph said as Donnie pulled him over towards the desk. Casey was out from underneath the truck he was working on. I guess the sound of me hitting the floor made him curious as to what was going on.

"Mikey are you okay?" Casey asked as he hurried over to help me up.

"Yeah, I'm fine Case. Thanks. My brothers I guess are just going to ignore the family that they have left so they can be depressed and irritable." I said as I started towards the door. "You know, the only reason I wanted to intervene is because I can't stand to lose the family that I have left. I love you guys, I really do. But you need to take care of yourselves" I managed to say before slipping outside. Instead of heading back in the house, I started towards the woods. I was walking pretty fast and before I knew it, I was running. Running so fast trying to escape our sad, broken family. A tear managed to escape down my cheek as the cold wind brushed across my face.

Raph's POV

I can't believe I did that. I never meant to hurt the guy, I just wanted him to leave me alone. He needs to let me grieve my own way. Splinter was gone and my older brother, my only older brother, was laying helpless upstairs in the farm house. Mikey was right, Don and I have been shutting ourselves out and not taking care of ourselves. Before I could even say a word, Casey was already scolding me.

"How could you do that, Raph? He just wants to make sure you guys are taken care of. He's dealing with his sadness too and just misses you. He's trying to be strong because by the looks of it, neither you nor Donnie are. You're both exhausted and Raph, I am sure you are starving." Casey was angry, I could tell.

"Raph, we need to go back to the house and apologize. He's right, we need to get some sleep, I am starting to see double" Donnie chimed in.

"I'm going to stay out here and work for another hour or so. I will be in soon," Casey said as he went back underneath the truck.

I opened the door to go outside. The chill of the frigid air hit my bare skin immediately. I started to head towards the house when Donnie stopped me. "Raph look, he went towards the woods," He said pointing to the prints in the snow. "He doesn't have a coat on and with being cold blooded, he could get hypothermia". Shit. My warm bed will have to wait, we have a brother to find.

"Alright Donnie, we will go look for him, but we need to get a coat ourselves or we could be in as worst shape as he is." I stated as we raced towards the farm house. We grabbed our coats and a spare one for Mikey that were hanging on the rack behind the door way. As soon as we were bundled up, we ran out towards the woods, screaming Mikey's name. Pleading him to come back.

Mikey's POV

Why does Raph always take his anger out on me? I know that I annoy him but for once I was being serious and I was concerned about him and Donnie. And yeah, we've gotten into fights before but he has never actually hit me. At least, not like that. My head was throbbing and I was starting to see double. I bet I have a concussion, just great, Mikey! Ugh, I hear them calling my name. Gotta keep running, I don't want to talk to them anymore.

I stopped when I came across a frozen lake here in the woods. As I heard my brothers getting closer, I decided I needed to make my way across. The ice was cold on my feet as I started to slowly glide across. Not that I needed anything else to be added to my already chilled body.

"MIKEY!" That was really close. I was halfway across when I turned around to see Donnie and Raph standing up on the hill right above the lake. Looking at the warm coat that they brought me made me shiver. So cold! I can't keep doing this, I need to make my way back to them. I might as well forfeit, the cold won this time. I turn around to make my way back when I heard a sickening crack. I had first thought it was a tree that had fallen. I didn't have time to process that the ice had cracked from underneath me before I plunged into the icy water. The cold water hit me like a thousand knives and I just didn't have the strength to swim back up to the surface before the ice returned to its normal form, trapping me underneath. I could feel my heart rate slow down as my world went black.

Raph's POV

"MIKEY!" I screamed as my brother disappeared underneath the ice. Donnie and I immediately sprinted down the hill to where my brother once stood. The ice had already returned to normal. My brother was trapped. God, I hit him. I yelled at him. If I had just listened to him none of this would be happening right now.

"Raph," I head Donnie say. "We need to break the ice. He doesn't have much time". Quickly I pulled out my sais and start beating on the ice frantically while Donnie did the same with the sharp end of his bo staff. It seemed like hours ticked by before we were finally able to get the ice to open up just enough for one of us to go in.

"Alright, I'm going in Donnie" I said as I pulled off my coat.

"Be careful Raph, the water is below freezing and will only slow your cold blooded body down more," I heard Donnie say I plunged in the water. God it was cold and I couldn't see anything in front of me it was so dark. Thankfully the water wasn't that deep. I started moving my arms around trying to find my brother, he was close I know it.

Right before I was completely out of air, my hand brushed up against something, or someone. I felt around the object some more and could feel the shell that my hands currently had a hold of. I got him! Quickly I pulled Mikey and I out of the water. Donnie grabbed ahold of my brother and pulled him out, placing him on the ice. He then lifted me out and wrapped my coat around my body.

"He's not breathing, Raph" Donnie stated as he checked my younger brother. Shit. No Mikey, you can't die! Donnie immediately started breathing for him and yelling at Mikey to not leave us just yet as he did compressions. Tears were stinging my eyes as I watched the scene unfold in front of me.

"Come on Mikey, come on, come back to us" I pleaded between chattering teeth. "Breathe!" Donnie was still going back and forth between giving breaths and doing compressions. Guilt started to weigh on my shoulders again. Instead of it being for Leo or Splinter, it was for my younger brother. Just as Donnie was about to do more compressions I stopped him. "Donnie, wait, look" I said as I watched a small faint breath escape Mikey's nostrils. "Check him" I pleaded.

Donnie leaned over to check for a pulse. "He's back, I don't believe it" he said. Just then, Mikey started coughing up water and Donnie quickly turned him over so he could get all the water out. Once his fit quieted down, he continued to lay still. "Come on Raph, I have to get you and Mikey warm again before you both get hypothermia". I watched my purple banded brother place Mikey's coat around his body before picking him up and start sprinting back towards the house.

What kind of brother am I? Look what I did! I almost killed my brother and for what? Because he cared about me? He legitimately cared about me and I pushed him away. Donnie pushed him away. I can't lose another brother, I just can't. I can't handle it. I quickly get to my feet and start sprinting towards Donnie, trying to catch up. Please be okay, Mikey. I'm so sorry.

Mikey's POV

Oh my head. It hurts so bad. Ugh. At least I am warm. Ah, I could feel a mountain of blankets piled over top of me and it felt so good. And comfy. I hate being cold. Wait, I was cold. I died back in the woods didn't I? Well, at least I thought I did. I suddenly remembered Raph hitting me and me running. And then, they found me. But I fell in the pond, the ice cracked. So how did I end up getting so warm? Was this heaven? I decided to try and open my eyes to see where I was. The light was so painful to bare at first. I once heard on TV that heaven was bright. Once my eyes adjusted I took in my surroundings. No, I'm not in heaven. I was back at the farm, the living room to be exact. I looked to my right and saw Donnie sitting on the floor, slumped up against the couch, asleep. Finally, D you got some sleep!

Raph, where was he? It was like he was reading my thoughts because here he came strolling in the living room with more logs for the fire. I looked up at him and tried to talk but my voice just didn't want to work. He glanced over my direction and immediately dropped the firewood in the middle of the floor, startling Donnie awake. "Mikey!" he managed to choke out. I could hear the tremble in his voice and the see the tears forming. His green eyes were welling up with tears, but what for? I thought he was still pissed at me.

"Mikey, you're awake!" I heard Donnie say. Both of them rushed over to me, Raph grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. Tears were snaking down his face and I could see that Donatello was crying too. I tried to speak to them, tell them that I was okay, that they shouldn't be sad but my voice just wasn't working.

"Don't try to talk Mikey, you have a bad case of hypothermia" Donnie sniffled. "I'm so glad that you are okay!" I looked at Donnie and then back at Raph. Come on big guy talk to me. Tell me how stupid I was for falling through the ice. For running out like I did in the cold.

Raph wrapped me in his arms and pulled me into his plastron. Instead of yelling or scolding me, I just heard him crying. No he was sobbing, and hard. Oh man, I must have scared him. He was shaking and I tried to curl closer into his chest to let him know that I was okay. "I'm so…ssso sssorry Mikey" he said as he continued to sob. I felt him pull away from me. Now it was Donnie's turn.

D wrapped his small arms around me and pulled me close, just as Raph did. He was crying and I could faintly make out, "We lost you, Mikey" in between the sobs. Gosh, I really did it this time. When Donnie's cries turned into hiccups, I motioned for him to pull away so I could look at the both of them. Tears were making their way down my cheeks and I didn't bother to wipe them away.

"Guys," I said hoarsely. Gosh, my voice, it was so raspy. "Sorry" I managed to let out.

"No Mikey, we're sorry. I'm sorry for hitting you and god, Mikey, you drowned in that frozen lake. Donnie was able to bring you back. It's my fault". I grabbed a hold of Raph's arm and made him look at me. Because I could barely talk I motioned for him to grab me a pen and paper for me to write. Donnie, still sniffling, saw this and brought both over to me and placed them on my lap.

_Don't blame yourselves. I just didn't want to lose any more family members. I love you_ BOTH.

Here it comes, another hug. Raph became a blubbering idiot again and started crying immediately when he felt me curl up in his chest. Donnie had his arms wrapped both Raph and I. "Don't ever do that do me again, Mikey. We can't lose you. I love you too, little brother". Aw, Raph the big softie.

I pushed away from them and both of my brothers glanced up at me, hurt that I didn't want to be smothered anymore. They lightened up their expressions when they saw me writing again.

_You both need to get some rest. I will be okay now. I promise. _

"Injured and still trying to order us around" Raph said smiling. I continued writing again.

_Stay with me, don't leave. _

"Okay, Mikey, we'll stay. I love you, bro" Donnie said. Great, that means no lab for Donnie and no bathroom for Raph. I am sure either April or Casey are sitting with Leo right now. I shed two of the ten blankets that were on me and handed it to my brothers. Raph settled in beside the couch and D, he curled up on the other side of Raph. I started to drift back to sleep, content that both of my brothers were finally resting when I heard Raph speak.

"Mikey, thank you" Raph thanking me? For what? "Thank you for the intervention and making us realize that we need to be concerned about what we have right in front of us. Master Splinter will find a way back to us, I'm sure. Until then, we will take care of each other from now on".

That's all I needed to hear from my big brother before drifting back to sleep. We will get through this nightmare. We always do.

END! Please read and review


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